Historical information: In the summer of 1965, Gladwyn Kingsley Noble, Jr. (1923-1994; PhD Columbia 1962), then a professor at San Jose State University, carried out several weeks of linguistic fieldwork in the Rupununi river basin of Guyana. His empirical focus was on Wapishana and Atorai, two Arawak languages of the region. (He also carried out a single lexical elicitation session with a speaker of the Cariban language Macushi.) At the time, and as of 2018, Wapishana continues to boast several thousand speakers; Atorai, on the other hand, was already spoken only by elderly individuals who were likely born in the late 19th century. To our knowledge, the Atorai materials contained in this collection are the only known sound recordings of the language in existence. Noble's principal consultants were Lawrence Joseph (for Wapishana) and Christine George and Felix Xavier (for Atorai). A woman who seems to be Felix Xavier's wife is also often present, though she is not named.Prof. Noble's 1965 fieldwork on Arawak languages was an outgrowth of his PhD dissertation research ("Proto-Arawakan and its Descendants") on the phylogeny of the Arawak language family. It was his only field season. In 1972, Noble applied for, but was denied, a visa to return to Guyana during his sabbatical in the spring of 1973. Around this time, he gave these 13 reel tapes to friend Prof. Vida Denk (San Jose State). Around 2006, Prof. Manjari Ohala (San Jose State), a friend of both Prof. Noble and Prof. Kenk, and wife of Berkeley linguistics professor John Ohala, facilitated the donation of the reel tapes to the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, then directed by Prof. Leanne Hinton.Prof. Noble appears to have taken copious field notes, references to which are made throughout these recordings. In the Description fields for each item in this collection we include annotations that appear to reference those notes, when they exist. As of April 2018 the location of these field notes is not known. For each item we provide the most specific date of recording possible. A location along the middle Rupununi River was chosen for coordinates; it does not correspond necessarily to a specific place where these recordings were made.

Description: File 2018-03.13_A begins with G.K. Noble checking previously collected Atorai lexical data with Felix Xavier. At 03'51" Christine George gives a text in what seems to be Atorai, given the pace of her speaking. At 06'02" Noble conducts lexical elicitation on Wapishana with Lawrence Joseph, reading aloud English terms that were reviewed first on August 4 & 5, 1965. File 2018-03.013_B continues with the same configuration as the end of 2018-03.013_A. At 07'09" Lawrence Joseph reviews Wapishana vocabulary with Veronica Johnson, reading aloud an English term, then giving the Wapishana, with her repeating the Wapishana term. Noble seems to be targeting possible differences in pronunciation between the two speakers. From 30'00" to the end (near) minimal pairs seem to be targeted.

Preferred citation: [Lexical elicitation, monologic text], 2018-03.013, in "Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/25073

Description: File 2018-03.011_A begins with lexical elicitation on Atorai, spoken by Christine George, and based on Wapishana translation by Lawrence Joseph; at 32'02" a child sings in English. File 2018-03.011_B continuation of Atorai lexical elicitation as configured in 2018-03.011_A, then at 15'48" continues with Atorai words spoken by Felix Xavier. At 18'45" a man (seemingly Felix Xavier) speaks in what is probably Wapishana, and others around him understand. At 24'30" Lawrence Joseph speaks in English, providing Wapishana translation for lexical elicitation with an unknown speaker of Macushi (an unrelated Cariban language), based on a publication by the German ethnographer Theodor Koch-Grünberg. At 32'10" Christine George speaks briefly in an undetermined language.

Preferred citation: [Lexical elicitation, song, conversations], 2018-03.011, in "Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/25070

Description: File 2018-03.010_A begins with Lawrence Joseph checking the Wapishana lexical data in William Farabee's (1918) publication, covering the range of the alphabet summarized as "stout-wash." He reads the English and then provides the Wapishana form, indicating whether Farabee was correct. File 2018-03.008_B continues with the same configuration and alphabet range "wash-z." (This alphabet range appears to correspond to unknown notes that end on July 27, 1965.) At 17'05" Lawrence Joseph carries out lexical elicitation on Atorai with Christine George, providing English and then Wapishana terms.

Preferred citation: [Lexical elicitation], 2018-03.010, in "Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/25069

Description: File 2018-03.001_A begins with Veronica Johnson telling a story in Wapishana about how she heard of a murder; at 3'12" it continues with Christine George providing Atorai vocabulary with the assistance of Wapishana-speaking translator Lawrence Joseph. The vocabulary was "first given" on August 4, 1965, and appears to correspond to unknown notebook pages abbreviated "4/8-1-14." File 2018-03.001_B begins with Christine George providing Atorai vocabulary in the same format, here the date of recording indicated as August 12, 1965. At 26'30" G.K. Noble begins checking Wapishana vocabulary with Lawrence Joseph; Noble attempts to pronounce several tokens himself and Joseph provides additional explanation for some terms. The first Atorai segment appears to correspond to to unknown notebook pages abbreviated "5/8-14," with the final segment corresponding to "25/6-2&3."

Preferred citation: [Story and lexical elicitation], 2018-03.001, in "Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/25060